THE NE,W YORKER a thousand bottle caps-soda-pop caps. This was a bone-dry county. We fin.7 s hed lunch, and Borgman lighted a thick cigar. "1 guess we ought to get going," he said. "I'd like to take a look at Tight-Eye before we call it d " a ay. "I'd like to show it to you," Rosier said. "I'll take you in and show you the Witness Tree. Maybe you've heard of it. The Witness Tree is a big mag- nolia tree that marks the corner where Liberty County and Hardin County and Polk County all meet. The ex- perts say it's a thousand years old. ] . " want you to see It. "Why do they can it Tight-Eye?" I said. " I k b . , h . k " h feC on ecauSe It S So t IC, e said. "You can't walk through it with your eyes wide open. The branches and brambles would put them out. It's the thickest part of the Thicket." "... e dropped the remains of our lunch in a box in front of the store and got in the car and circled back to the crossroads and headed down another gravel highway. There was a big "No Dumping" sign on the right, and piles of trash and garbage, and the trees for a hundred yards around were plastered with windblown papers. We passed the endless gash of a pipeline right-of-way. We passed two miles of forest marked with the sky-blue blaze of a lumber company, and then a mile bla7ed in orange. We passed a billboard: "Model Homes. " We passed a sudden pasture and a fallen-down log cabin. Then we turned off the highway and onto a nar- row, potholed asphalt road. The trees came together high overhead, and the asphalt road gave way to sandy mud. We were well into Tight-Eye now. We drove for another ten or fifteen minutes. The only car we met was a station wagon with Louisictna plates. Rosier sat up dnd cleared his throat. "I reckon this will do," he said. "We'll get out here and walk in to the fa- mous \Vitness Tree." A track that had once been a log- ging road led into the Tight-Eye woods. The track was overgrown with red oak and sweet-gum saplings, and hedged with broomstick pine. It wasn't much more than a crack in the forest waIL "This is real Thicket," Borglnan said. "This is the best I've een todav. This is what we want for the Monu- ment." "Yes, sir," Rosier said. "And we'll be right in the middle of it in just about a minute. This track doesn't go where we're going." He had his eyes on the trees ahead on the righ t. He hesitated, 63 ou can buy a better vodka for ve nor rubles -::. ð\1 .. t;( ... " . , f: X l ....... "" --... .... """,,""oN "" - -,....._--, //... -/ , ......,,,, ............. ..... . :;#. . þ ...::;jf/! - ... -- -... - 'i" ;Ç - F/. f ij 7 - '-;,,' .7 , e s VODKA, 80 PROOF DIST FROM 100% GRAIN. W & A GILBEY, LTD .CINN.,O DISTR BY NAT L DIS1. PROD CO. .. M_ Naturally you belong in Austin Hill . fY .t ' I Man tailored-yet fault- lessly feminine. Navy Blue flannel blazer about $45. Plaid pants in exclusive wool colorings about $21. Imported tartan pants available about $24. Fine gauge turtle neck about $14. Coordinated kirts are available. Write for the store nearest you: Austin Hill Ltd., 318 N. Front St, Baltimore, Md. 21202. 0- <>. f '""I .... w ul $ .. , .' % 1:. AUSTIN HILL <& AT: HitchIng Post, Cold Sp. Hbr , N. Y. . Darien Sport Shop, Darien, Conn. · Village Store, Columbus, 0